Yay

John turned in his paper so he is done with his second semester! Now he just has to write his thesis and he'll be LLM-ed! We are doing some more traveling to celebrate so we may be radio silent for a couple of days.

Oh, and UGA asked me if I wanted to move up the Specialist degree in Education for School Library Media and I said yes! I got into a competitive program without even applying to it. And without having any previous Education degrees. Anyway, with a little extra work this will successfully get me certified to be a Media Specialist in Georgia and may even bump me to a higher pay scale.

Lawn

So John is still working on his paper(s?) leaving me alone all day to try and entertain myself. His ploy has worked because I decided to try and mow the lawn.

Factors working against me:
Floppy British grass
Very long grass that was neglected all winter
Damp
Our crappy man(or, in this case, woman)-powered push mower
The dull blades on said mower

I managed to sort of cut almost half of it (remember our garden is not that large) before I had to give up due to exhaustion and frustrations. The biggest problem was that clumps of grass would get caught in the mower and the blades would stop turning. I would pull out the grass clumps only to catch more on the next push of the mower. Either John will have to do the rest or I'll attack it little by little over the next few days.

While I was outside I noticed pieces of John's hair from when I cut it back before our road trip. I guess neither the winds nor the birds wanted it. At least I did a better job cutting John's hair than I did cutting the lawn (John had better agree, or else!).

Hair

I forgot that one of the problems with having short hair (especially short hair that isn't all the same length) is that you have to cut it pretty frequently to keep it looking nice. My hair really needs a trim, but John doesn't want to authorize that expenditure because:

1. We are waiting on loan money

2. He thinks my hair looks fine (sometimes it's nice when your husband thinks you are beautiful no matter what, but there are drawbacks)

3. He doesn't understand why a cheap salon can't do it (trust me, they can't)

Boys just don't understand these things.

Johnbook

I am, admittedly, on facebook a lot these days because I spend a lot of time at home and it is a diversion. John has a facebook account (two actually) but he's almost never on.

But now that he has been going into school to work on his papers he updates his status twice a day. Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, John. And that's a fine picture of you eating haggis.

Worried Girl

John and I are about to embark on our Amazing England Adventure (driving around for days in the rented car) and to keep the mold from completely taking over the flat while we are gone I decided to clean the bathroom. I've managed to not catch John's cold so far but I'm afraid the cleaning chemicals might have irritated my sinuses enough to give the germs a foot hold. Let's hope my mucus membranes rebuild themselves and kick the germs out!

I convinced John that I deserved to see a movie because I worked so hard this morning. So, we finally went to see The Boat that Rocked. The ads for it came out a while ago, so I feel like I've been waiting forever. I enjoyed it!

I've still been working away at my guitar playing. Since I decided to learn guitar I've been harboring some vague hope of writing the occasional folk song, but like David Rees, with Bush gone I've been wondering what there is to make social/political commentary on. The economy?

21st Century Worried Girl Blues (sung to the tune of Worried Man Blues)

Chorus:
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long

I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
They say that Ponzi has ruined our economy

Chorus

I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
You need a PhD to work for Burger King

Chorus

I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
And all I’ve got, is loans up to my ears

Chorus

I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I hope my folks will let me move back home

Chorus

Surely I am the voice of the 21st century 20-something...

What are you worried about? Leave your own verses in the comments.

Leg Over Leg the Dog Went to Dover

We went by car.















Yup. They're white.


I like the stratification here. This is where dirt has eroded from the side of a field near the cliffs.















And here is John. It was windy.

Happy April Fools Day

I was sort of trying to pull a hoax claiming that I had tea with the Queen, but I just saw that the Prez is meeting with her and no one would believe I had tea with them both.

I went to the library today to meet with one of the children's librarians about an upcoming event. We used the office in the Memorial Library to talk, and both the ladies working in there today told us that a mom came in to say that her daughter was in one of the classes that came on the library tour a few weeks ago and it was the first time she had come home from school talking about what she did that day. Clearly the paper airplanes made an impression.

John and I went to watch some of his students in a moot court trial this afternoon. Moot court is not as much fun to watch as mock trial. I really wanted to bust into the Law and Order opening music followed by an enthusiastic "chum chum!" to liven things up. All the students did a great job arguing their case even though they didn't entertain me.

Sunshine!

Still no big adventures today but I did convince John to walk into town for lunch so we could enjoy the sun. The rain made it much colder outside the past few days so it is nice to have our spring weather back now.

We went by the school this afternoon to listen to the American law students talk about the universities they have chosen for their year in America. There are three, including Samford, that are partnered with UEA. The first year students had to say which university they have chosen and why. The second year students (who will spend next year in the US) had to give three facts about the place they are going. It was interesting to hear what they all thought were the most notable things about each place. I wish them well and hope that they learn as much from living in America as John and I have learned from living in England.

Not What I'd Planned

I didn't have a lot going on last week and I was really looking forward to this weekend when we would have the car and be able to go places. And we did go places yesterday...

...but not today. Today John was sick. So I tried to take care of him by telling him repeatedly how much more fun he is when he isn't sick, thereby motivating him to get better.

Instead of traveling we spent most of the day on the couch watching Dr. Who and playing Mario Party (a very low impact Wii game). It was a shame because there was actually less rain today.

Southwold

From what I understand some of my family line through Grandma Kay came from Southwold, which is in Suffolk County on the southern coast of East Anglia. I believe this is the place Southold, New York (which is also in Suffolk County) is named after.

Since John and I are renting a car currently we decided Southwold would be our first trip. It is not on the train line and also isn't that far from us (about an hour).

We had a very nice time. The coast is beautiful there. Very different from Great Yarmouth and a lot classier. John put it that they have expensive touristy things instead of cheap touristy things. It's true. There are a lot of art galleries.

We ate some coastal sea food at a local inn, then walked around looking for the old rail station (which was on the map we had). We couldn't find it, but we found the railway gift shop. The men in there were very friendly and I think they enjoyed talking to us. It turns out the old rail station is now the police station (which we had passed several times). They are trying to raise funds and get permission to get the old line running again. We bought some post cards and accepted a pamphlet talking about the rail foundation.

We considered going on a boat tour but decided we were already too wet from the rain. So instead we got pastries from the bakery and ate them on a bench overlooking the ocean.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around Norfolk because John is really enjoying having a car and his driving wasn't scaring me too much.

The coast:















I'm looking at the camera here, but the wind is blowing my hair in my face:

Shadows

I finally uploaded the pictures that were on my iphone. Here is one I thought was interesting.

Taxes

I was hoping to get out this weekend, but John was expecting a package today so we couldn't really go anywhere. Lame. (If you give a husband permission to buy a computer, he will decide he needs some accessories...)

I filed our taxes and it looks like we are getting a refund on both federal and state. John wasn't going to file since he didn't make enough money, but I decided to file us jointly in the hope that his school expenses would get us a better refund.

That is about all the excitement here for today.

If you looked at Sound and Sense yesterday and couldn't make any sense of it, fear not. I was looking back over it this morning and noticed that in changing between templates I lost paragraph and a half somewhere. It should be fixed now.

One More Thing

Danny, one of my friends from library school, is coming to visit us on Tuesday. I spent the day preparing for his visit by cleaning.

I scrubbed the guest bathroom, trying to get rid of live mold if not permanently ingrained mold stains. I tidied up the living room, putting away clutter that has been on the bookshelf and fireplace for months. I made my office look more like a bedroom by putting sheets on the bed and moving out a few of my things that might get in the way.

After all this, I took a break, had some lunch, and walked to the co-op with John. As we were walking back into the house I saw that John's bag had sprung a leak. John was ahead of me and he was letting the bag leak on the floor. "John!" I called out. He turned to look at me, and as he did he moved the bag towards the bed. "Not on the bed!" I yelled. But it was too late. The bag had leaked on the bed, too. John immediately saw what was going on and took the bag back outside.

Up until that point, we both thought the leak was milk. It was actually beer.

The good news is that the beer that did get on the bed didn't soak all the way through the duvet cover. Since the duvet itself will not fit in the washing machine I'm not sure what I would have done if it had gotten dirty. But the cover is in the wash, and Danny has escaped having to sleep in a bed that smells like beer.

Train Station

John and I talked about going on a short trip today, but we only made it as far as the train station. Only one bus was running, so we had to walk. By the time we got there is was kind of late to go somewhere, do something, and come back.

Anyway, we explored that part of town. Ate lunch at a Thai restaurant on the river and saw Young Victoria at a theater we hadn't been to before.

Whitlingham Country Park

John and I picked up a cycling map of Norwich a while ago thinking it might come in handy. This morning I pulled the map out, pointed to the large park on the opposite side of the city from us, and said to John, "I want to go there."

John cycled in the lead and we stopped occasionally to consult the map on the most traffic-free route. On the way we discovered that Norwich has its own ski slopes.

At the park we walked around for a little while reading the informational signs. The broads (bodies of water more shallow than a lake) in the park formed from people mining the area for peat.

We saw the site of wood henge. (The henge isn't actually there anymore.) Now, if there is a stone henge, and a wood henge, my question is: where did the first little pig build straw henge? Since straw doesn't tend to last for a long time, we may never know. If I wanted to get all philosophical I might conclude from this that time is the big bad wolf.

But I digress. There was a cafe in the visitor's center so we had lunch there, cycled around the park, and then came home. John had to do some more fancy navigating because the road by County Hall was very busy due to a football game.

We live in a nice area that is good for exploring on foot or on bike and I really enjoyed the park. I am glad we were able to get out today, even though we will probably be very sore tomorrow.

Another London Trip

John has really wanted to see The Magic Flute for a while. So we saw it and we both enjoyed it and birthday accomplished!

I am a bit wiped out today. John booked us a bargain hotel room which ended up meaning that the "hotel" was sort of half hotel and half residence in what must once have been a dorm. There were people living there. And there were communal bathrooms. We didn't know any of this before we arrived.

But we both laughed it off. This is an adventure! And then, lest we escape irony, my stomach picked this hotel, of all places, to be unhappy. The hotel where the nearest bathroom was on another floor.

I didn't get much sleep and then we walked around all morning until it was time to catch the train. I am looking forward to a bath and uninterrupted sleep.

John keeps talking about The Magic Flute, though. And I can tell he's really happy we got to see it. And that makes me happy.

Happy Birthday to John

Today is John's birthday! We celebrated by going to lunch and a movie (our usual date format these days).

Just to mix things up I also let John buy some electronics. Don't worry, nothing too pricey.

The significance of John's birthday:

I'm not a hard core believer in astrology, but I did like hanging out in the astrology section of the book store when I was a teenager. I am a Cancer, and the books say that the best match for a Cancer is a Pisces. By coincidence (not by my own doing) the only people I have dated have been Pisces. I'm using the word "dated" liberally here, because officially I've only dated one other person besides John. But if I include my junior prom date (who did go with me to the prom as a date) it makes the statistic a little more compelling. Anyway, after the first two Pisces relationships ended I wondered if astrology had let me down. Perhaps a Pisces wasn't for me. Then came John. Another Pisces. What was I to think? Well, I'll tell you what I think. I think the fact that he is on the cusp of Aquarius balances him out. Sort of takes the edge off the less desirable Piscean qualities. (No offense meant to other Pisces. Every sign has good and bad qualities.) So it is very important that John's birthday is on February 25th.

Renegade Eyebrow Hair

John has this one eyebrow hair that, like, doesn't stop growing and is curly and is.....a RENEGADE!

I finally convinced him to let me pull it out several weeks ago because it had grown so long it was poking him in the eye. It's not that I need John to have perfect eyebrows or anything. It's just that it's distracting. You know, I'll be trying to look lovingly at him, and there is this renegade eyebrow hair staring back at me. Anyway, I pulled it out and I thought that was the end of it.

But no. The hair has grown back. At first it wasn't obvious. It looked like a normal eyebrow hair. But it has shown it's true colors. Long and curly. It's going for his eye again. I can tell.

Weekend In

After the excitement of last weekend this one has been exceedingly slothful. But it has been good to spend time with John being lazy.

Not lazy things I have accomplished this weekend:
Cleaned our bathroom, and the parts of the downstairs bathroom that we use.
Filled out an application with Fulton County.

I was so focused on getting the certification out of the way, I almost forgot what pushed me to get it done now. Fulton County accepts applications all the time, but they only consider you for jobs that you meet the minimum qualifications for. Many of the job postings I have seen for other libraries in Georgia require certification OR the ability to get certified within six months. This is why I was not previously in a hurry to get it done. But if you submit an application with Fulton and aren't certified I don't think they consider you for the professional positions. So, here's hoping this helps me get a job.

Valentines 2003

Mumsie mentioned in the comments that John and I started dating just before Valentines Day six years ago.

I think what sticks out in John's mind most about our first Valentines together is that he took me out to dinner and then realized he had no way to pay. We got it sorted out.

What I remember most is how I agonized over whether I should get him a gift. I even asked our friend Miller for advice (but I won't tell you what his advice was). I finally decided to go ahead and get him something.

Well, it turns out he got me a gift, too. We both gave each other books and I would say they were books that show how well we already knew each other. My gift to John: Roverandom. John's gift to me: Cattus Petasatus.

Just in case this entry wasn't mushy enough: John is my one and only Valentine! Literally, he is the only person I have ever celebrated Valentines Day with.

Awww.